Ash Wilson expects winless Perth Glory will have a point to prove when they host Newcastle at Dorrien Gardens on Monday night.
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But the Jets coach has no doubts her charges will match Glory's desire to win as the two sides face-off in a crucial clash for both.
Newcastle are seventh with four points and Perth last on one. Both appear out of the finals race with four rounds remaining and are instead battling to avoid the wooden spoon.
"The girls don't need any extra motivation, or incentive," Wilson told the Newcastle Herald.
"They've had a couple of days off this week with just the way the draw panned out. A bit of a rest and a restart was probably needed for them but they've come back and they're easy to motivate.
"They want to win. They show a lot of pride in what they do and obviously we can't make the finals now but there are a lot of other goals that we need to reach in terms of finishing as high as we possibly can and just making sure we show a good account of ourselves."
Newcastle have not won since beating Western Sydney (10) in round five and are coming off a 2-1 loss to fourth-placed Adelaide (16).
Perth were well-beaten in a 6-2 loss to leaders Sydney (24) in their last outing but have only played six games compared to Newcastle's eight.
"I've watched them play a couple of games and they're well organised defensively," Wilson said. "They try to get a lot of numbers around the ball and make it hard for teams to break them down.
"Their last result against Sydney was not a great one for them, so I would anticipate that they're going to come out with a lot of intent to redeem themselves."
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Wilson was yet to finalise her travelling squad and said competition for spots continued to be fierce.
Attacking midfielder Rhianna Pollicina comes back into calculations after serving a one-match suspension. Pollicina started in every other game and has been strong for the Jets. But Pana Petratos also gave a good account of herself when she was promoted to the starting side against Perth.
"I've got headaches all over the park, good headaches though," Wilson said.
"Obviously, there's lots of factors to consider and people coming back into the mix. We also have to think about ways that we can hurt Perth and that might call for personnel changes as well as a result of some of those tactical insights.
"One of the messages that I tell the girls is that no one is performing badly. They're making it difficult week in and week out for me. It's a good headache to have."
Players are also playing for contracts next season.
"They're playing for pride this week but also want to finish as strongly as they can, and it's the back end of the season and hopefully a lot of them are thinking they want to come back next year and want to put their hand up for that," Wilson said.
The game kicks off at 9.35pm AEDT.
Melbourne Victory (17) improved to third with a 1-0 win over six-placed Wanderers at AAMI Park on Thursday night.
In other round-11 matches, Adelaide host Sydney at Marden Sports Complex on Saturday and Canberra (12), who are fifth, play unbeaten second-placed Brisbane (19) at Viking Park on Sunday.
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